The famous British warship HMS Caroline will be turned into a floating tourist attraction, the UK Government said last week

The 3,750-tonne World War I light cruiser is moored in Belfast and will be restored as it prepares to mark its centenary in 2014.

It is the last surviving ship of the two-day Battle of Jutland in the North Sea in 1916, and ministers said it is the second most important ship in the Royal Navy after Nelson’s flagship Victory.

The announcement paves the way for the vessel to become Northern Ireland’s answer to HMS Belfast, the World War II cruiser-turned-tourist attraction moored on the Thames in London.

Defence Minister Mark Francois said the Caroline was “a significant example of early 20th-century engineering and shipbuilding”.

It has been docked at Belfast since 1924 and was most recently used as a training ship. It was decommissioned last March.

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